What Is Beet Pulp and What Is It Used For?

Beet pulp with its 10% crude protein and 18% crude fiber
places it between a forage and a grain. When sugar is extracted
from sugar beets the left over pulp is a form of highly digestible
fiber suitable for horses. Beet pulp comes in shredded or pellet form
and is usually soaked in water before use as it expands considerably.

Beet pulp contains lots of fermentable fiber and may normalize
fermentation in the large intestines of the horse, which results in
over all digestive efficiency. Owners with "hard keepers"
generally substitute a good portion of their grain with beet pulp
and this seems to maintain the horses all over body condition. A
good digestive tract makes for a healthier horse.

Beet pulp has been used to replace 40-50% of the forage in a
horse's rations without adverse effects when fed with other
balanced concentrates and don't forget to supplement your
horse with Vitamin A as beet pulp does not have this ingredient.

Some owners use beet pulp as a forage food because of its
high digestible energy content. It is actually higher in
digestible energy than any hay including alfalfa.

Horse owners often use beet pulp to add weight on their horse
and you can also add a high caloric oil (corn oil) to
give it more weight gaining power. Some horse owners
feed beet pulp to their horses as is, but horses with bad
teeth or horses that bolt their food or have swallowing problems,
you will definitely want to pre-soak the beet pulp in water
before feeding.

Written by,

Michele D. Anderson